Site of Wrexham’s first National Eisteddfod, Island Green
Island Green Retail Park occupies the area where the National Eisteddfod was held for the first time in Wrexham, in 1876. It was the first National Eisteddfod to award a “black chair” posthumously.
The Eisteddfod has been held in a different place each summer since 1861. In 1876 there was an open space between the Island Green Brewery and, to the north, various buildings and side streets along Regent Street. The brewery is on the left in the old picture, which also shows St Mark’s Church, where the multi-storey car park is today.
An “immense pavilion” for the Eisteddfod was built at the western end of the site, as shown in the plan. An estimated 8,000 people attended the opening ceremony inside.
The brewery was left of the pavilion in the plan. Entrances to the maes (Eisteddfod field) were from Hill Street and near the church.
The Eisteddfod, from 22 to 25 August, was attended by about 25,000 people. Many travelled to what’s now Wrexham General station on special trains.
This was the first Eisteddfod to feature a post office with telegraph equipment, located inside the pavilion. It accommodated 50 to 60 newspaper reporters who could send their articles without leaving the pavilion.
There was drama at the main ceremony, the chairing of the bard. The winner was announced as Thomas Jones (pictured courtesy of the National Library of Wales), bardic name Taliesin o Eifion. The audience then learned that he had died the morning after submitting his winning awdl. On the stage, the chair he’d won was covered with a black cloth and the bards donned black armlets before pencerddes (chief musician) Edith Wynne sang Dafydd y Garreg Wen (about a dying harpist) in a broken voice.
Prizes were given for many subjects besides poetry and music, including for the best translation of Shakespeare’s As You Like It, the best collection of North Wales minerals, the best two photographs of Wrexham town, the best piece of flannel and the most artistic carved oak Welsh figures.
The site later became part of Wrexham Central railway station, which opened in 1887. The station was relocated westwards in 1998 to make way for the retail park.
Postcode: LL13 7LW View Location Map
Website of Island Green Retail Park